The field of the invention is camera swing heads. In motion picture or video filming, the camera is often mounted on a camera head, to allow the camera to be smoothly moved. Various types of camera head have been used including camera heads for moving the camera in pan and tilt axes and fluid heads that provide smooth and silent operation. Other types of camera heads are used to set up the camera in a desired position between filming sequences, or to achieve specific types of movement. Swing heads are used for this purpose to rotate or swing the camera on a swing plate about a fixed axis into a desired position, and then optionally lock the swing plate against further movement. Although various swing heads have been used, disadvantages remain in their design and use. It is an object of the invention to provide an improved camera swing head.